


Burst Balloons

by greglet



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Shenanigans, M/M, mckirk - Freeform, mckirkbeyond, promptfest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7537795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greglet/pseuds/greglet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a hot day, Bones joins in on the fun, but Jim's payback is a little too violent. </p><p>-<br/>Written for the McKirkBeyond Promptfest on fuckyeahkirk-mccoy.tumblr.com for the prompt 'Academy Shenanigans'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burst Balloons

It was warm. Too warm. Warmer than San Fran should be, especially at the bay. Not even a breath of a breeze ran off the water, leaving it almost stagnant in the beaming heat. The fog had long burned off as opposed to being blown away and despite the stifling heat, most of Starfleet’s best and brightest were out and lying in it - much to Leonard’s frustration. The heat he could deal with - he was a Georgia man after all - but the sun stroke? Well, he had already suggested to the nurses in medical to lay out a few extra beds during the night shift - sometimes the best and brightest were also stupid and careless. 

Leonard, however, had already doused himself in SPF factor-obscene before he left his dorm that morning and had hand-delivered a spare bottle to Jim last night with a firm warning. Of course he had been given a roll of Jim’s ethereal blues with a “thank you, grandma Bones” for his trouble. Still, the thin layer glistening across Jim’s forehead told him Jim had listened to him. For once. 

“C’mon, Bones, it’ll be fun.” Leonard was strolling across campus while Jim half jogged then jogged back to Leonard, who was lagging, before jogging ahead again like an excited dog on the way to the park. “I think they’ve already started, c’mon, hurry up, old man-” 

“Jim, dammit, if you want to go, go, I ain’t stoppin’ you.” There was a water fight - an old fashioned water phaser and balloon water fight in the track field and Jim had been scraping at the walls to get out and join in ever since he heard it was happening. Leonard, however, was not in the mood to be soaked through and chaffed by wet clothes and resigned to being an observer rather than participator. 

By the time they had reached the track field, Jim gave one last look of longing towards it followed by a look of impatience towards Leonard and ran off. Leonard kept on, reaching the track in his own time but also gathering a sense of what was going on. Two teams, more or less even in numbers were divided at either ends of the field. It was a vague form of dodgeball, except the ball wasn’t rubber and everyone was dripping wet. Jim had already lay waste to three players from the other side who were expertly hit hard enough to look like they had just been plucked from a lake. Leonard, feeling more sensible (but still enjoying the spectacle) had taken refuge at the front of the stands, resting his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his elbows across the grass. He had shut his eyes against the sun, listening to the shocked but playful screams of being hit with what was probably warm water. It wasn’t until he heard the familiar sloshing of water-filled balloons in a plastic box did he open his eyes again. 

“Hey, doc, you want one?” He was offered a box by one of the nurses he was occasionally on shift with, but Leonard shook his head at the offer. 

“Thanks, but I’ll be good over here.” 

“Alright, your loss, I used the ice water tap from the kitchen - they said I could, but only for one lot.” The nurse shrugged and went to leave him, but Leonard sat up, a small hint of mischief overtaking his sensibility. 

“Ice water?” He couldn’t keep the smirk off his face when he asked - something the nurse replicated as they followed Leonard’s eyes out to one particular student on the pitch.

“Yep, they’re still freezing, look - they’re a little bit frosty and everything.” The nurses’ smirk turned to a grin, “I wouldn’t get too close if I think I know what you’re planning, he has a mean right hook, y’know.” 

“Oh, I know, but if I can find veins on a gorn, I can find the back of Jim’s neck.” Reaching into the box, Leonard grasped one of the balloons and took to the edge of the pitch. The teams, and Jim, were too involved in their game to sense a threat. Leonard didn’t step much further onto the pitch and it was Jim’s own fault that he took a few steps back from the offending party in front of his overly-confident self and collided with a well aimed balloon. 

As the ice water exploded across the nape of Jim’s neck, streaming down his back, Jim’s reaction kicked in, arching his back and tensing his shoulders as he literally squealed in shock. A few of Jim’s teammates stopped to see what his issue was and eventually caught on to what happened when they found Leonard and the nurse hanging onto each other as they fell apart with laughter. 

“ _Bones_ ” Jim was stunned as he hung, gormless, as he dripped. “ _Bones_ -” Leonard was buckled and leaning on his knees, howling to the point where tears stung his eyes, the noise of Jim’s shriek playing over in his head. “Bones was that _you_?” 

Leonard managed to nod under the heave of his breathless laugh and as Jim stomped over, he held a hand up in his defence. “I’m sorry, darlin’, but you were such an easy target-” 

Even the nurse had let go of their box to hold their sides from the laughter. Jim shivered in front of Leonard, setting Leonard and the nurse off again in their peal. They were left to recover as Jim turned his soaked back to them, picked up the box and jogged back to his team, trying to ignore the ordeal he just went through. 

“Sweet Jesus, did you hear him?” The nurse nodded, wiping their eyes of the tears. 

“Y’know, he might do great things when he leaves here, but I don’t think I’ll ever think of him without thinking of that noise now.” The nurse admitted, giggling again at the thought of it. 

“I wish I videoed it, could’ve made it my comm tone.” Leonard sat back against the grass again while the nurse tried to even out their breathing. 

“I think he would’ve killed you for that.” They might be right, but Leonard shrugged and reached for one of the many disregarded bottles of suncream sitting on the first bench of the stands. 

“You want some?” Leonard offered the bottle up to the nurse. 

“Nah, I had some earlier and my galvanic response in heat is significantly less than your species, so, I’ll be fine.” 

Leonard nodded, trusting that a medical professional would know best for their own species and stood, using the bottle to gesture at Jim. 

“If I don’t give him this, there’s a good chance he’ll blame me for gettin’ burned now.” More than that, if Leonard went to touch the back of his neck later and riled up the reddening rash, Leonard would be thrown out Jim’s dorm for sure. The nurse nodded as Leonard left, padding over the grass. 

“Jim-” Leonard called, but over the yelping of teammates being blasted with jets and bombs of freezing water, Jim didn’t hear him. “Hey, Jim-” Leonard tried again, but still, nothing. Jim had bent over to grab another balloon out the cold box he had placed by his feet and as Leonard raised a hand to rest on Jim’s back, he had given Jim another start. Jim whipped up too soon and thrust a harsh elbow into Leonard’s nose out of reaction, knocking him a few steps back. Leonard had immediately dropped the bottle, his hands covering his burst nose. Tears and blood ran off his face, the thumping sensitivity had his eyes shut in the shock as Jim’s hands clamped over his shoulders. 

“Bones - _Bones_ \- shit, sor- I’m so sorry, Bones, are you-” 

“Are you gonna ask me if I’m okay? Do I _look_ okay?” Leonard’s thick scowl marred his brow and as he took his hands away from his nose, Jim grimaced and recoiled. “Is it that bad? What did you do that for? You broke my fucking nose, Jim-” Leonard could only feel the pain and see the blood in his hands, but as he pinched the bridge he could feel a disconnect - along with a seething pain that almost had him passing out. 

Jim half carried Leonard to medical, while Leonard got them both covered in blood despite having his head tilted as far he could while still being able to see where he was going. Jim stayed with Leonard while he got his nose reset, and again when Leonard was told to stay still following time with the regen devices he was so fond of (when used on others). Despite Leonard telling him to beat it and go enjoy the sun while it lasted, Jim refused and remained firmly planted on the hospital chair beside the bed. 

“God, Leonard, what the hell happened to you?” Nurse Francis, a familiar face, stepped in after hearing Leonard had made a visit - and not a social one. 

“His goddamn elbow happened to me.” Leonard nodded towards Jim and Jim spread a guilty smile while the nurse shook her head. “It’s okay though, I’ll get him back later.” 

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.” The nurse scoffed and shook her head. “Looks like your black eyes are coming through now, hopefully the regen will take the worst of them away and it’ll look like you just lost a few hours sleep instead.” 

Leonard rolled his darkening eyes, thinking about how that was all he needed. The nurse who had been attending to him returned with a damp sterile cloth to try and get rid of the blood, but as soon as she lifted the cloth to him, he winced. The nurse sighed and drew him a look but before either of them could make a move on, the buzzers went off, calling all free hands to the front desk - if Leonard assumed right, it would be just on the button for those kissed a little too hard by the sun. 

“ _Go_ , I think I can handle scraping the blood off my own face.” Leonard insisted, and with a sigh both nurses left him and Jim to themselves. Hopping off the bed, Leonard stepped to the mirror to see the damage. It wasn’t a death sentence, but the dried blood definitely looked a lot more ‘serial killer’ than he was expecting. “You got me good.” 

“I’m sorry, Bones, but you sneaked up on me.” Jim stood, taking the cloth from Leonard’s hand and wiping at the side of his jaw. “Guess that’s what you get for hitting me with that earlier.” 

Leonard turned to face Jim, disbelief on his face. “‘That’ being the soft balloon filled with water? And you think a broken nose is equal payback?”

“ _Cold_ water, Bones, that water was fucking freezing, okay? You could’ve given me hypothermia, did you think about that?” Jim’s lip eased into a smirk and Leonard rolled his eyes. 

“You’re such a child, d’you know that?” Leonard took back the cloth, wiping a little more harshly than Jim had dared.

“At least this way your nose won’t be in my spine in the morning.” 

“You think I’m staying over tonight? After this?” His threat was empty, but Jim still pleaded with a slightly upturned lip and the big eyes that got Leonard every time. “That’s cheating, Jim.” 

“But it works, doesn’t it?” A wide grin broke out across Jim’s face, knowing too well he never had to worry about losing that battle, and he pressed a quick kiss to Leonard’s temple. “Every time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like the last mckirk thing, short and quick and for the prompt fest that i really really fell behind on (sorrrryyy) ): hope this makes up for it??
> 
> Written for the McKirkBeyond Promptfest on fuckyeahkirk-mccoy.tumblr.com for the prompt 'Academy Shenanigans"


End file.
